Cricket | SA Team

Mills welcomed boost for Black Caps

New Zealand captain, Brendon McCullum, said that the return of Kyle Mills to the One Day squad was a huge boost for his team, who have suffered humiliating defeats at the hands of the Proteas in both the test matches and two of the T20 Internationals on this tour.

"It's a big boost to have Kyle, especially as a leader. We've been a bit short on leaders for this tour and to have someone of his ilk and experience in the fold is great," said McCullum at a press conference in Cape Town on Friday.

Mills is a veteran of 141 One Day Internationals, with 207 wickets under his belt. Mills boasts best figures of 5-25 at an economy rate of just 4.7 runs per over.

"He's been successful in .south Africa as well, and he will know some of their better batters," McCullum said.

"He knows his game very well and if he can recapture some of his form in this series, then it will go a long way to leading the bowling attack," stated the New Zealand captain.

McCullum stressed that having new players join the ODI squad was a breath of fresh air and hoped that these players would add some impetus to their flagging tour.

"From a professional point of view, we are a bunch of players who are incredibly focused and determined to finish this tour on a high. We have some fresh legs in the one day squad, and they are key to providing some enthusiasm and getting some results in these last three games," said McCullum.

McCullum went on to say that the New Zealanders fancy their chances in the One Day series as the shorter version suits them better. "It's just where we are as a team at the moment. With one day cricket, we know our game better than we do in the longer version."

"We are confident that we have some basic game plans which we know how to implement on a regular occurrence. Obviously the conditions will be foreign, so we need to quickly adapt to them, to ensure that our game plan can be effective in the conditions," McCullum added.

The first Momentum Cup 1-Day match takes place at Boland Park in Paarl on Saturday, 19 January, followed by games in Kimberley and Potchefstroom on 22 and 25bJanuary, respectively.